WITH EASTER on the horizon, perhaps one of the biggest Easter Egg Hunts in Gwinnett will take place on Saturday, March 19, at McDaniel Farm Park, near the middle of Gwinnett. The event runs from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., and is sponsored by the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center. See more information about the hunt in Notable below.
IN THIS EDITION
TODAY’S FOCUS: Concerned about Twin Lakes Proposal in Peachtree Corners
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Gwinnett’s Infinite Energy Center Focuses on Two Main Customers
SPOTLIGHT: United Community Bank
FEEDBACK: Funding the GOP; More on Templeton Library; and Politics in 1816
UPCOMING: Medical Center Announces Two New Urgent Care Centers
NOTABLE: March 19 at McDaniel Farm Park Will Host Giant Easter Egg Hunt
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Founder of Coca-Cola Had Previous Career as Distinguished Druggist
TODAY’S QUOTE: Unmotivated People Must Be Content with Mediocrity
MYSTERY PHOTO: The Camera Is Turned Upward for this Mystery Photo
TODAY’S FOCUSCalls for council to deny Twin Lakes proposal in Peachtree Corners
By Robert Howard
PEACHTREE CORNERS, March 11, 2016 | The City of Peachtree Corners is considering approving a request for rezoning and variances from creek setback requirements for a project called “Twin Lakes” at their next City Council meeting on March 15 at City Hall at 7 p.m.
Conceptual drawing of Twin Lakes proposal. Click to enlarge.
This project would allow construction of a wine and spirits store and a gas station on the east side of Peachtree Parkway at Engineering Drive with a signaled intersection and roadway connecting to Technology Parkway. The project would also build an exclusive gated apartment complex on the south side of Technology Park Lake with 295 units designed for millennials.
Let me urge the City Council to deny the wine and spirits store and the gas station creek setback variance because of the permanent loss of a city natural resource required for the filling and piping of 500 feet of a tributary of Crooked Creek. Additional damage to the creek would result from the construction of the roadway between Peachtree Parkway and Technology Parkway along the creek.
This action would set a precedent for the city, as the first approval of piping a significant part of a city stream. The stated benefits are the construction of approximately 2,000 feet of a proposed multi-use trail for Technology Park and a small public access dock on Technology Park Lake. Additional benefits from the wine and spirits and the RaceTrac gas and convenience stores would largely accrue to Johns Creek commuters on Georgia Highway 141, or Peachtree Parkway.
The second part of the project is a 295 unit apartment complex to be located on the south side of Technology Park Lake. Although millennial housing is needed in Technology Park, the project is proposed to be an exclusive gated community. Such a development would preclude development of a walking path around Technology Park Lake, the largest and most feasible public access lake in Peachtree Corners.
In addition, this apartment complex would be the first project to use the new city Trails and Open Space (T&O) zoning, whereby a developer may acquire density credits for donating land or easements for trail or open space use. This is an excellent tool to obtain access for public uses but could allow full 13 density credits/acre for restricted development lands such as floodplains, gas easements, sewer easements and lake. Future use in this manner could cause unnecessarily increased populations and densities in Peachtree Corners.
I urge the City Council to condition the zoning approval for the apartment complex to require construction of a walking trail along the property lake front. Additionally, they should provide future public access to this trail should the remainder of a public trail circling the lake or linking the multi-use trail to Technology Parkway South along the southern bank of the lake be approved by the Council for construction.
Secondly, I urge the Council to only allow 113 density credits for proposed T&O rezoning because of the significant proportion of the proposed T&O lands having developmental restrictions. The 113 density credits are sufficient to construct the proposed apartment complex.
My concern is that we are giving the same number of credits to lands that have significant developmental restrictions (creek, lake, floodplain, gas easement, sewer easement) as we give for fully developable lands. I don’t want to see too much additional density, just higher quality developments that add to a higher quality of life for Peachtree Corners.
(Editor’s Note: If a developer donates land or provides public easement, they will get density credits that can be used to add density to another development. They can develop a density credit bank and can sell those credits to other developers. If you have R13 zoning, if approved, you can put 26 units on the land if you use 13 density credits. The more you accumulate, the higher density you can expect to be allowed.–eeb)
EEB PERSPECTIVEInfinite Energy Center leader focuses on 2 kinds of customers
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher
MARCH 11, 2016 | Joseph (Joey) Dennis didn’t plan his background to become the general manager of Gwinnett’s Infinite Energy Center. But he couldn’t have planned better, as it takes a person of varied skills to be on top the many aspects of such a facility.
The Center has 750,000 square feet under roof. Its leader must find, promote and schedule many multi-day events, sometimes several activities the same day, or host 25,000 people packed into its walls on a busy day, and make sure all are well-fed and happy.
Joey has such at varied background. Originally from Huntsville, Ala., he was an expert in heating and air conditioning by the time he was out of high and technical school, something he has finds valuable for the Center, with its constant air conditioning needs, and even looking out for its 17,000 square foot ice rink for hockey events.
Dennis
He and his wife, Teresa, who he met in high school and have been married 40 years, live in Buford. They have two daughters, and two grandchildren. He first came to Gwinnett when the Civic Center was being built, and signed on early with the construction team, back in 1991. Though he left the area for a while, he returned in 2001 as its assistant general manager and has led the team running the Center since 2011.
Keeping the Center running efficiently is no easy task. “Bookings for our space are always a challenge. If you add an event here, you might have one falling out the other end. After all, some of these touring road shows are in Nashville tonight, and our place the next night, so changing a schedule can affect the entire Southeast. It’s a chain reaction, and we work against many changes.”
There are about 700 events at the Center each year, 120 of them in the Arena. “We had over a million people visiting our venues last year, and we’ll do about 120 events in the Arena alone. The Ringling Brothers Circus is here for 18 performances in 10 days, we have 36 pro hockey games, and now nine lacrosse matches a year with the Swarm, and we won’t know until the last moment if the sports teams will make the playoffs. We leave little holes in the schedule for such…..and hope.”
The Center has announced it is to expand, though plans are not finalized. Expected is a high-rise Marriott Hotel on site, plus at least doubling the exhibit space to more than 100,000 square feet (from today’s 50,000). That Center will also get more entertainment and dining facilities. Joey says: “People want to park their car, go eat, and go to a show. And be safe. That’s what the expansion will be about.” There are 4,000 surface parking spaces, another 1,000 in the deck. There will be more deck parking in the future.
Joey gives credit to county officials originally planning the Center doing it in the right manner. “It’s built for what was best for the community in general, such as major concerts, plays and music in the Theatre, meetings in the ballrooms, and functions in the Exhibit Hall. In some places, sports teams rule the show. Not here. All the profits we generate stay with the Center, and go to the general fund for improvements. We’ve got to keep the Renewal Fund intact, for instance, as it’ll have to fund a new roof after 24 years.”
Overall, Joey Dennis works at the Infinite Energy Center for “…our two clients, the one coming in the front door, and those performers or exhibitors using the back door. We try to make it easy for both.”
IN THE SPOTLIGHTUnited Community Bank
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today we welcome a new underwriting supporter. It is United Community Bank, with 30 offices within Metro Atlanta. Headquartered in Blairsvlle, Ga., it is the third-largest traditional bank holding company in the state with more than 100 locations throughout Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina. Since 1950, United Community Bank has been dedicated to providing platinum-level service to its customers as the foundation of every relationship. Known as The Bank That SERVICE Built℠, it is committed to improving the lives of residents in the communities it serves through this philosophy of delivering exceptional banking service. In Gwinnett, the bank has offices in Lawrenceville, Snellville and Buford.
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Looking forward on how the GOP will fund the 2016 election
Editor, the Forum:
If Donald Trump wins the GOP nomination, will the establishment support him?
Absolutely!
Why?
- They will prefer Trump over Clinton.
- Jobs. No, not jobs for the working class; jobs for political appointees. A few will go to those large donors and the people they sponsor, and then there will be donors.
Trump will not self-fund the general election campaign. That campaign will run to around $750 million from establishment donors.
Many will quality for plum positions in the Trump administration, i.e., ambassadors, consul. Then there will be secretaries, under secretaries, assistant under secretaries—you get the picture. There will also be the thousands of lower paid positions that do not require Senate confirmation. These will be not only in D.C. but throughout the country. These jobs go to party regulars (establishment) and their children and grandchildren. These will be resume-building jobs for people who, by and large, do not represent the “typical” Trump supporter.
Simply put, the establishment on either side gets the non-civil service (political) jobs. All of this holds true for both parties. True there will be, and always have been, volunteers, who have basically worked for free and made a great impression and will have jobs found for them. That’s the way elections work.
And, by the way, who do you think the pledged delegates are? From the Republican base? Not on your life. These are mostly people who been involved in party politics; they have to be able to afford the cost of going to the convention.
There are even alternate delegates who have no vote unless a delegate falls sick, dies or is called away. These are also people who can take the time off and afford going to the convention. Does this sound like the “typical” Trump supporter?
This is why the establishment knows that Trump’s pledged delegates can be swayed after the first vote if it is an open convention.
— Hoyt Tuggle, Lawrenceville
Here’s why there are no books in Templeton library
Editor, the Forum:
The Templeton “Library” in the recent mystery Photo was built to hold all of Templeton’s writings and books. The apartments were built in the library so University of the South students could live there while they studied his works, which are quite extensive. He died before he could get his library moved. So far the executor of his estate has not felt the need to spend the money to move his collection.
— Lou Camerio, Lilburn
Year 2016 brings to mind Jackson and what happened in 1816
Editor, the Forum:
On two recent comments in GwinnettForum:
“….should the Democrats win, the new president could nominate Barack Obama for the Supreme Court!”
President Obama could then shift from overreaching by executive order to overreaching through the judiciary. That way, we don’t really need that dumb ol’ Legislative branch, ennyhow, not with right thinkers on the court.
“The Grand Old Party becomes less significant, and could waste away in national politics, though the Republicans would remain strong in state politics across the nation.”
Could we be about to experience an echo of 1816, something like what happened to the Federalists after Alexander Hamilton died? In that instance, Andy Jackson brought back a two-party system founded on populism eight years later with a majority of the popular vote. The establishment (really then, the House) held him off for a term, but he prevailed in 1828, and with a vengeance. So much so that Adams and Henry Clay founded the Whig party in opposition to his ‘tyranny.”
And Jackson was an anti-debt extremist (maybe from his personal experiences w/debt). He defeated the Second National Bank. What could be in store for our conceptual successor to the Second National. And wouldn’t that be a turn?
— John Haeger, Lilburn
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Medical Center, ChoiceOne to work together in urgent care centers
Gwinnett Medical Center (GMC) and ChoiceOne Urgent Care of Baltimore, Md. today announced that the two entities entered into an agreement to jointly operate a network of urgent care centers in Gwinnett County. The initial two centers in Hamilton Mill and Sugar Hill will open in early spring. The two organizations will work to develop additional sites within the community.
ChoiceOne Urgent Care centers will be located at: 5965 Cumming Highway, Suite 100 in Sugar Hill, and at 2690 Hamilton Mill Road, Suite 100 in the Hamilton Mill community, near Dacula. The company also operates three center in Maryland.
At ChoiceOne Urgent Care, patients (including pediatrics) can receive:
- Treatment by healthcare providers for non-emergent illnesses and injuries, such as colds, flu, broken bones, headaches, infections and sprains;
- Sports physicals;
- Occupational health services, including pre-employment physicals, drug testing, workers’ compensation and vaccinations;
- X-ray, laboratory services and offers many prescription medicines on-site;
- Treatment in brand-new facilities with state-of-the-art amenities;
- Care available seven days a week–8 a.m. to 8 p.m.–including most holidays;
- Walk-in care, no appointment needed; and
- Referrals to GMC primary or specialty care providers.
Phil Wolfe, president and CEO of GMC, says: “Patients want access to convenient and quick medical care. With ChoiceOne being open in the evening and on the weekend, patients can receive high-quality care on their schedule. ChoiceOne focuses on getting the patient seen and back home or to work quickly. Furthermore, urgent care costs are notably less than the ED.”
GMC and ChoiceOne are hiring providers, medical assistants and X-ray technicians. To apply, visit http://choiceoneuc.com/careers.
Gwinnett Place seeks input about McDaniel Farm Trail connection
A series of community outreach events is planned May 17 and 19 as part of the ongoing implementation of the ACTivate Gwinnett Place initiative in the Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District (CID). These will help identify locations for a potential Gwinnett Place area trail that could connect McDaniel Farm Park to the larger commercial district and the existing trail network.
TSW, an architecture, and landscape architecture firm, will lead the community engagement process. Surveys will be conducted both in person and online at: https//www.surveymonkey.com/r/GPconnected. The online survey is available March 3 to March 25, 2016.
Joe Allen of the CID says: “We are very interested in what the community thinks regarding possible connectivity with McDaniel Farm Park and the Greater Gwinnett Place. This feasibility and scoping study is just one part of the CID’s efforts to drive redevelopment as envisioned in the ACTivate Gwinnett Place master plan. If you can’t make it to one of the outreach events, we encourage everyone to participate in the online survey.”
The meeting schedule shows:
- March 17—at Satellite Place Offices 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. with interactive activities and a survey.
- March 19—at McDaniel Farm Park 10a.m. until 2 p.m. with interactive activities and a survey.
- March 19—at Gwinnett Place Mall 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. with interactive activities and a survey.
Unveiled in July 2015, the ACTivate Gwinnett Place initiative charts a path for redevelopment of Gwinnett’s central business district. The plan proposes several bold infrastructure investments including a trail network, enhanced connectivity to McDaniel Farm Park, roadway improvements, pedestrian enhancements along Pleasant Hill Road and Satellite Boulevard and storm water management solutions.
- For more information regarding the Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District please visit: http://www.gwinnettplacecid.com.
City of Duluth to bring sport of cornhole to downtown area
A new sport will make its debut in downtown Duluth and have many reeling with excitement. The Peach State Cornhole League will kick off games on Duluth Town Green March 25.
Maggie Waddell of the City of Duluth says: “Cornhole has always been a hit for all ages during our event seasons. It was only fitting to create a league specifically for Duluth for our residents to enjoy.”
The popular tailgate game will consist of three eight-week leagues. The seasons include an ending tournament with a championship trophy and prizes.
Top teams from each location will be eligible to compete in a larger tournament with a chance to win additional prizes! Other participating leagues are: Buford, Cumming, Flowery Branch, Oakwood, Peachtree Corners, Snellville, Sugar Hill and Suwanee.
Games will be scheduled on Fridays from 6 to 7:30 p.m., starting March 25.
- For more information and to sign up, please visit http://peachstatecornhole.com/leagues/cornhole/82589.
McDaniel Farm Park again hosts Easter Egg Hunt on March 19
The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming and the trees are beginning to show signs of green. The Environmental and Heritage Center (EHC) invites Gwinnettians to celebrate the season of renewal with its Egg-Streme Easter Event at McDaniel Farm on Saturday, March 19, The event runs from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Guests at last year’s Egg-Streme Easter Event in 2015 get ready for an egg hunt in one of the McDaniel Farm pastures.
Enjoy spring themed crafts, games and Easter egg hunts. Egg hunts are scheduled by age groups at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Guests are encouraged to keep the egg hunt green or sustainable by turning in their eggs to receive fun, small prizes.
Participate in a guided tour of the farmhouse, test your strength in a game of tug of war and use your muscles to carry buckets for a water relay. These activities will have you prepared for your springtime chores.
The Egg-Streme Easter Event also serves to remind guests of Gwinnett’s past. EHC’s Director of Programming Jason West says: “There are countless stories of how Mr. Archie McDaniel would host an annual Easter egg hunt for the community on his farm. This event reminds us of those previous celebrations and highlights the treasure that is McDaniel Farm.”
Program fees for the event are $8 per person. EHC members and children under the age of 2 are free. Pre-registration is encouraged for the event and can be done online at www.gwinnettEHC.org. Guests may also pay at the gate on the day of the program and are invited to enjoy their time at the farm by packing a picnic lunch to eat on the grounds. McDaniel Farm is located at 3251 McDaniel Road, Duluth.
Peach State FCU opens Little Free Library in Lawrenceville
In keeping with its roots as an educators’ credit union, Peach State Federal Credit Union has opened a Little Free Library. These scaled-down, community supported libraries are a global phenomenon. There are more than 36,000 of these small book exchanges around the world in 70 countries — from Iceland to Tasmania to Pakistan.
Now, a new Little Free Library at Peach State’s Lawrenceville branch on North Clayton Street will join the movement to share books, bring people together and create communities of readers.
Peach State’s Little Free Library is located next to the entrance of the branch and is modeled after a 19th century school house.
Crow Hunter, Peach State’s training manager and the builder of the library,says: “Our founders were educators and many of our members are educators. Making this miniature library is a perfect fit for our membership and the surrounding community.” Hunter spearheaded the library project saying: “It was such a simple idea that would bring true value to our community and it is a perfect fit with our roots in education.”
When deciding on a location for the library, the choice was simple. The Lawrenceville branch offers a convenient place for anyone visiting the city to drop off or pick up literature of all kinds.
RECOMMENDEDSend us your book, movie, restaurant or any other recommendation
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (100 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. –eeb
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBITFounder of Coca-Cola had previous career as distinguished druggist
John Stith Pemberton was the inventor of the Coca-Cola beverage. In his day Pemberton was a most respected member of the state’s medical establishment, but his gift was for medical chemistry rather than regular medicine. He was a practical pharmacist and chemist of great skill, active all his life in medical reform, and a respected businessman.
His most enduring accomplishments involve his laboratories, which are still in operation more than 125 years later as part of the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Converted into the state’s first testing labs and staffed with Pemberton’s hand-picked employees, these labs almost single-handedly eliminated the sale of fraudulent agricultural chemicals in the state and ensured successful prosecution of those who tried to sell them.
Born on January 8, 1831, in Knoxville, in Crawford County, Pemberton grew up and attended the local schools in Rome, where his family lived for almost 30 years. He studied medicine and pharmacy at the Reform Medical College of Georgia in Macon, and in 1850, at the age of 19, he was licensed to practice on Thomsonian or botanic principles (such practitioners relied heavily on herbal remedies and on purifying the body of toxins, and they were viewed with suspicion by the general public).
He practiced medicine and surgery first in Rome and its environs and then in Columbus, where in 1855 he established a wholesale-retail drug business specializing in materia medica (substances used in the composition of medical remedies). Some time before the Civil War (1861-65), he acquired a graduate degree in pharmacy.
The analytical and manufacturing laboratories of J. S. Pemberton and Company of Columbus were unique in the South. “We are direct importers,” the company claimed, “manufacturing all the pharmaceutical and chemical preparations used in the arts and sciences.” Established in 1860 and outfitted with some $35,000 worth of the newest and most improved equipment—some of it designed and patented by the company—it was “a magnificent establishment,” an enthusiastic reporter from the Atlanta Constitution proclaimed in 1869 when the labs were moved to Atlanta, “one of the most splendid Chemical Laboratories that there is in the country.”
Pemberton served with distinction as a lieutenant colonel in the Third Georgia Cavalry Battalion during the Civil War and was almost killed in the fighting at Columbus in April 1865. In 1869 he became a principal partner in the firm of Pemberton, Wilson, Taylor and Company, which was based in Atlanta, where he moved in 1870.
Two years later he became a trustee of the Atlanta Medical College (later Emory University School of Medicine) and established a business in Philadelphia, Penn., where his own brands of pharmaceuticals were manufactured on a large scale. He also served for six years (1881-87) on the first state examining board that licensed pharmacists in Georgia.
Pemberton was “the most noted physician Atlanta ever had,” according to the Atlanta newspapers, but he is best known for his expertise in the laboratory, where he perfected the formula for Coca-Cola.
(To be continued)
- To access the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
The camera is turned upward for this Mystery Photo
This Mystery Photo is of a camera pointed up at the ceiling. It’s a dramatic view of one of the more beautiful of ceilings. If you can figure it out, tell us where you think this is located. Then send your idea to elliott@brack.net, and be sure to include your hometown.
For the identification of the Mystery Photo in the last edition, only one person recognized the grist mill. It was Ruthy Lachman Paul again, who correctly identified the Golden Creek Mill in Easley, S.C. east of Greenville. She tells us that the mill is a replica of one built in 1815. The photograph was sent to us by b of Duluth, who is on a holiday in Europe.
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